Quarterback Marcus Mariota, center, and his Oregon teammates are No. 1 in this week's re-rank. / Kirby Lee, US Presswire

by Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports

by Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports

There are four undefeated teams left in the FBS. That's four times as many undefeated teams as winless teams, after Massachusetts beat Akron on Saturday to notch its first win of the 2012 season (and its first as a part of the FBS). With UMass out of the picture, last place in this week's 1-124 re-ranking belongs solely to Southern Mississippi.

'Twas the night before Christmas, and Southern Miss beat Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl to cap the most successful season in program history: 12 wins, one conference championship, a top 20 finish and the most prolific offense in school history, for starters.

Just 324 days later, the Golden Eagles are in an embarrassingly exclusive club. Following Saturday's loss to Southern Methodist, Southern Miss is only the second FBS program in recent college football history to go from winning 10 or more games to losing 10 or more games in the span of a single season. Ball State, which went from 12-2 in 2008 to 2-10 in 2009, is the other.

The argument over which team will end the year No. 1 rages on. But through 11 weeks, there's no team that has come close to nearing Southern Miss' level of incompetence. That the Golden Eagles are less than a calendar year removed from the program's high point makes this year's slide all the more hard to believe.